Show and Tell

Just thought I'd go ahead and share some of my English homework here. I was suffering from a severe case of writers block last Friday. Kind of sad, because I only had to write about a thousand words total. That's really nothing.... but considering I had to write about things that I generally don't have an interest in, it's kind of hard.

The class I'm taking is technically a writing class, but it has an emphasis on gender studies. The interesting part is that it is on masculinity. In the first part of the class we are to study the nature of the Western novel. We are reading The Virginian by Owen Wister. The first assignment is to read a few chapters and also an essay [here].... then answer a question on the discussion board.

This is what I wrote....

Tompkins claimed that the Western was a masculine reaction to 19th century feminine, Christian literature and culture with a few important points.

In the 19th century, the social structure for women had been built around the home and church. Christianity and church going had been associated with the feminine. With industrialization, more men had the time to attend to such events with the women of the family. As their social and economical roles in the family deminishes, there was a need for them to find something they can call their own, something to form a
contrast.

The plot of each Western usually place emphasis on extraordinary moments and puts events that would usually be important in everyday life, of family matters, in the peripheral. The notion that men can take matters in their own hands without help is literal, as guns are the ultimate phallic symbol.

The hero of each story is preoccupied with death and dying. It is as if the men who are reading these stories are trying to hang on to the last shread of their dignity.

Women rarely appear in Westerns, and when they do, they are usually in need of help. In reality, women were becoming more and more independant. Men needed an escape where they will always be needed.

Now I see my professor got a pretty big kick out of my writing...

Good response, Patricia. Is "The notion that men can take matters in their own hands without help is literal, as guns are the ultimate phallic symbol" your joke or Tompkins'? (I can't find it in the text.)

Randy S.

Funny thing is, I was being serious. Hey better then nothing I guess, since the responses he's been giving most people are just little pats on the backs.